


The Cute Shop Attendant Adventure

by mitsukyu



Category: Super Junior, Super Junior-M
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Alternate Universe - Vlogger, Fluff, M/M, Social Media, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 06:40:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5656291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitsukyu/pseuds/mitsukyu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyuhyun fanboys over Chinese vlogger Zhou Mi to everyone he knows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cute Shop Attendant Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> To avoid confusion: the youtube links used in this fic are for form's sake and don't correspond to the fictional videos discussed. 
> 
> written for coley_merrin for qmidayeveryday 2015 <3

**#255 Exciting Milestones!**

"Good morning everyone! It's Zhou Mi! Welcome to the vlog!" He waved at the camera while turning in a circle, a flash of all four of the bright walls of his room.

"I'll be going out later today. I'm meeting a friend for lunch and maybe I'll go to the gym? I haven't decided yet. But I wanted to talk to you guys first. You guys," he dropped his voice to a reverential whisper, eyes wide at the camera. "I actually made five hundred thousand subscribers yesterday! That's insane! You're all amazing and I'm still not sure how I got here? I just wanted to show my friends and family at home what I was getting up to in Korea. But filming is so much fun! And I made a lot of new friends here too. Oh! I'm uploading a challenge with Jia later.... today? Maybe tomorrow! It'll already be up by the time you see this vlog so I hope you enjoyed it! We had so much fun filming.

"Anyway! That's not the point, the point is that I want to thank you guys so much for sticking with me! You're all amazing and so sweet. Reading your comments makes my day!" He made a heart sign with the arm not holding the camera and an exaggerated kissy face. "I love you all lots!

"And that's not the only thing! It's funny how things can happen all at once, isn't it? Let me just get ready and I'll tell you guys about it on the way to lunch.

"So, the day after tomorrow, actually! On the fifth of August it will be three years since I came to Korea. It feels much longer and not nearly as long at the same time. I'm really glad I came. The work is a lot of fun, as I told you before. I really enjoy modeling because I can try on so many different clothes! Also clothes I couldn't afford otherwise? It's really great. But at the same time it was really hard to move abroad. I mean, I really love Korea! And it's starting to feel like home now. But it was difficult to leave my friends and family behind and I didn't really speak the language when I first got here. Oh! I didn't tell you yet. I'm very disorganized today, because I'm very excited. And because I accidentally overslept," he laughed. "But yeah, I'm having lunch with my friend Song Qian! She came to Korea just before I did. After I got here and when the first weeks were hard for both of us we made a pact that we wouldn't give up and..."

 

Kyuhyun and Siwon had made a pact.

Again.

It was the latest in a long line of pacts. They worked, mostly. The one before this had gotten Kyuhyun to go to the gym three times a week even though, at first, he'd been convinced it was the worst idea in the whole history of ever.

That one, admittedly, had pretty much all been on Kyuhyun. (Although he'd wondered whether Siwon simply approached it from the other direction; promising to go to the gym three times a week... instead of his usual five. Whatever. Kyuhyun had actual hobbies.)  
But that was okay. The time before that, Kyuhyun had taken it upon himself to limit how often Siwon was allowed to bring up Jesus in casual conversation. Heechul had treated him to dinner for that one.

Which brought him to their current pact. This time around, they were both failing quite miserably.

No dinner, was the pact, after eight o' clock. Both their workaholic souls rebelled.

But not today. Kyuhyun had come _prepared_. It was a Saturday, which meant no prep for the bakery tomorrow and Kyuhyun had flown out the door after waving hurried goodbyes to Henry and Chanyeol. He'd picked up take out on the way home. There was nothing in the rules about what constituted "dinner", although Siwon's eyebrows after the fifth time Kyuhyun had selca'd himself eating ramyun probably foreshadowed the next pact.

Kyuhyun put his plate down in front of the TV and snapped a quick shot. Twenty to eight. He'd totally won. Siwon sent him a selca with two thumbs up in reply. Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and grinned.

> **bakinggyu** idiot. Where's yours?? (19.45)  
>  **Siwon407** I'm taking Liu Wen out to dinner tonight. :) (19.46)  
>  **bakinggyu** wow try to sound less pleased about FAILING MISERABLY (19.46)  
>  **Siwon407** :) :) :) (19.48)

The actual worst, Kyuhyun thought.

> **bakinggyu** where are you taking her? (19.51)

While waiting for a reply and actually starting his dinner (not eight yet, it still counted), he messaged Ryeowook and Donghae to see if they were free. He'd been planning to ask Siwon to hang out tonight, get some drinks somewhere but so much for that. Ryeowook still had work which was ridiculous even for Kyuhyun's standards and Donghae's reply was barely coherent. Kyuhyun assumed he was with Hyukjae.

> **bakinggyu** Its saturday and all my friends are terrible, now what am I going to do with my evening (20:10)  
>  **bakinggyu** ? (20:10)  
>  **bakinggyu** with no late night dinnerto look forward to? (20:10)  
>  **Siwon407** Relax for a change, Kyu! ;) ;) (20:13)

That, Kyuhyun told his phone, was the lamest advice. Also unhelpful. Kyuhyun had started his own business less than a year ago; he was fairly sure he would never feel relaxed again.

But it was worth it, always worth it.

Because, in short, Cake.

His phone beeped again.

"I swear to god," he muttered, "if he tells me to take up cycling I am blocking his number."

> **Siwon407** Oh! (20:16)  
>  **Siwon407** Wait. (20:16)  
>  **Siwon407** My friend linked me this, I meant to send it to you! :) (20:19)  
>  **Siwon407** http://youtu.be/dNT6UBDYjoQ (20:20)

Kyuhyun raised an eyebrow. This was new and unexpected.

Possibly.

Jesus or blogilates, he asked himself as he clicked the link.

That turned out to be unhelpful because everything - title, description, related videos - was in Chinese. Kyuhyun groaned, pausing the video that had already started to blast cheerful music at him.

> **bakinggyu** I see what youre doing :/ (20:22)

At school, Kyuhyun had aced Chinese class. But after graduation he hadn't actually had to use it for years. Not many opportunities for practicing Chinese at the bakery and he hadn't even taken the time to watch a drama in forever.

Long story short, he fucked up around Liu Wen basically every time they met.

> **Siwon407** 0:) (20:24)

He rolled his eyes and clicked out of the chat window. He'd like to at least be vaguely aware of what he was getting into before going back to the energetic music. He squinted at the description box. Even back when he seriously impressed his teachers with his Chinese pronunciation skills on a daily basis, he'd never quite been top of his class in reading comprehension. (Although he always felt his writing at least deserved an A for creativity, if not coherence.)

He'd almost given up when he spotted a tiny life saver, before having to resort to google translate. He zeroed in on the single bit of Korean in the wall of text.

> **bakinggyu** Seasoning? (20:28)  
>  **bakinggyu** Is this a cooking show (20:28)  
>  **bakinggyu** ? (20:28)

He could live with that. With a bit of luck he might learn some new Chinese dessert recipes to test on his friends. He drummed his fingers on the table. He'd wanted to wait for Siwon to reply before closing Kakao and playing the video so he could focus on recipes, but Siwon was taking forever. Maybe he was with Liu Wen already. He closed the chat again and clicked play on the video.

A face appeared, almost uncomfortably close to the camera, waving and smiling more brightly than Kyuhyun had ever seen anyone smile in his life. He said hello to everyone (so far no linguistic problems) and introduced himself as Zhou Mi.

Ah.

Well, that explained that, anyway.

> **bakinggyu** I feel betrayed (20:39)  
>  **Siwon407** Just watch! There is food later! (20:40)

Kyuhyun didn't really see the point of food if he couldn't either eat it or learn how to make it, but he was vaguely intrigued what this Zhou Mi was so ecstatic about. If a restaurant in China had accomplished that face then, well, Kyuhyun knew where he was spending his next vacation.

 

 

An hour and a half later and Kyuhyun was on his sixth video and knew more about Zhou Mi than he had ever cared to know about anyone.

And that, he had to admit to himself as he clicked on the next vlog, was a blatant lie. No one was forcing him, or even asking him at this point, to watch Zhou Mi sparkle at the screen. But Kyuhyun was _fascinated_. Despite the fact that the ratio of food to skin care products in the video was tragic.

> **bakinggyu** what even is this (20:45)  
>  **bakinggyu** theres still no food?? (20:55)  
>  **bakinggyu** what is his face (21:03)  
>  **bakinggyu** what are those arms (21:10)  
>  **bakinggyu** why is he talking so much??? (21:30)  
>  **bakinggyu** next time you link me something be around to translate im missing important information (21:35)  
>  **bakinggyu** he is living in seoul why is there no korean version of this (21:36)

Most appearances of food, he learned, were Zhou Mi visiting restaurants or food stands around Seoul - very important to give people an idea of what life here was like, Kyuhyun completely agreed - and Kyuhyun was 100% distracted from edibility questions by Zhou Mi's endearing flailing.

> **bakinggyu** like im pretty sure he just talked about his favorite ice cream flavor for five straight minutes (21:37)  
>  **bakinggyu** which is ridiculous but (21:37)  
>  **bakinggyu** im still not sure what his favorite turned out to be (21:37)  
>  **bakinggyu** not that i even care?? (21:37)  
>  **bakinggyu** but this is really frustrating (21:38)  
>  **bakinggyu** http://youtu.be/mohGpMiS4Cw (21:38)  
>  **bakinggyu** you got me into this mess translate please (21:38)  
>  **bakinggyu** no normal person makes noises like that when they eat ice cream (21:47)  
>  **bakinggyu** just saying (22:00)

 

> **Sunday, Aug. 2**  
>  **Siwon407** Strawberry. (8:40)  
>  **Siwon407** Are you okay? (8:43)  
>  **bakinggyu** im FINE (10:54)

 

 

A week later, Kyuhyun found the video titled (he discovered, with a little help from the dictionary) Baking A Cake! The only reason he'd looked it up was that he'd expected it to say Utter Kitchen Disaster!

"It was painful to watch," he moaned to Henry as he slid a tray of perfect cupcakes out of the oven. "I had to peek through my fingers."

"Then why keep watching?" Henry laughed. "Masochist much?"

Kyuhyun shrugged. "I don't know. I was... rooting for him, I guess. I wish I was there to teach him? Um."

Henry gave him impressive eyebrows. "Rooting for him? Whenever I ruin something, and the rare times I do the recipe is boss level complicated by the way, you either yell at me or laugh at me, depending on... the weather or the phase of the moon or whatever."

"Depending on how much your mess cost me in ingredients and how much time pressure we're under," Kyuhyun corrected him, shoving his shoulder. "Anyway, you're not as..." he waved his arms in a complicated motion trying to indicate... something, "smiley?" he settled on, with a confused frown. Henry stared for a moment and then started laughing.

"You want smiley, I can give you smiley, boss. I had no idea it was that easy to stop you from being anal about everything. If only you'd said." He grinned brightly and flashed a peace sign in response to Kyuhyun's glare.

 

"Cakes are complicated," Zhou Mi told the camera seriously, when he finished laughing at himself and the mess he had made.

"No they're not, you're dumb," Kyuhyun grouched at the video. "Also you have batter on your nose."

He was so utterly charmed it was disgusting.

 

Siwon was starting to question his sanity and had stopped being helpful about translating things, which was entirely unfair, and Henry made stupid comments about Kyuhyun's supposed crush, so it was high time to bother his other friends.

> **bakinggyu** so he sucks at baking (20:45)  
>  **bakinggyu** and i mean SUCKS as in hes a menace im amazed he didnt burn down the kitchen (20:45)  
>  **bakinggyu** but there are other things in life right, hyung? (20:45)  
>  **bakinggyu** his selfie game is way stronger than mine (20:46)  
>  **bakinggyu** for example (20:46)  
>  **leedonghae** everyones selfie game is stronger than urs tho ;) (20:50)  
>  **bakinggyu** hyung :( :( :( (20:52)  
>  **bakinggyu** youre supposed to be the nice one (20:52)

 

> **Tuesday, Aug. 11**  
>  **leedonghae** henry stoel my phone??? (00:10)  
>  **leedonghae** who r u talking about?? (00:11)  
>  **leedonghae** r u talking about me?? (00:11)  
>  **leedonghae** I alrdy apologized  & anyway it was only a small fire (00:12)  
>  **leedonghae** oh!!! (01:30)  
>  **leedonghae** henry just told me its ur new boyfriend :))))) (01:30)  
>  **leedonghae** awww  <3 <3 <3 (01:30)  
>  **leedonghae** that is perfect tho?? :))) (01:31)  
>  **leedonghae** u can make him delicious cake  & he can take attractive pictures w/ it. (01:31)  
>  **leedonghae** best of both worlds (01:31)  
>  **bakinggyu** not my boyfriend, hyung (5:30)  
>  **bakinggyu** and tELL HENRY HES FIRED (5:30)

 

Henry sent him a selca in reply, smiling wider than Kyuhyun had thought humanly possible. He and Chanyeol both agreed it was pretty creepy.

Henry got into work about five minutes later. Kyuhyun felt an overwhelming urge to pretend he could fire Henry for being a worse little shit than Kyuhyun himself. Henry had learned to ignore it.

 

 

It was three months after that that The Thing happened. The bell at the door of the bakery tinkled and Kyuhyun looked up to greet the customer only for the words to get stuck in his throat. He stared dumbly as Zhou Mi, _Zhou Mi_ , stood in the middle of the tiny bakery and looked around with interest. He screamed internally.

Zhou Mi was stupidly tall and stupidly beautiful and Kyuhyun was unimpressed with himself how in awe he was to find Zhou Mi was an Actual Person able to appear in his actual bakery, when he'd been watching him cute his way around Seoul for the past three months.

"Hello!" Zhou Mi greeted cheerfully and Kyuhyun managed a belated half bow and a probably supremely awkward smile. It didn't matter, though, because Zhou Mi had Discovered the Cakes. Not that they were not as conspicuously arrayed as possible, but the way Zhou Mi's eyes widened and his mouth formed an 'o' totally deserved capital letters, Kyuhyun thought proudly.

Zhou Mi turned his megawatt smile back to Kyuhyun.

"Wow, these looks amazing! My friend recommended this place, she said it was the most delicious," Zhou Mi enthused in - Kyuhyun thanked his lucky stars, he was tongue tied enough already - perfectly good Korean.

"Thank you, we do our best," Kyuhyun murmured, staring at the pastries because he didn't want to stare at Zhou Mi like a creep and waved goodbye to all the social skills he'd possessed two minutes ago. Zhou Mi's enthusiasm, happily, seemed undeterred.

"Um! Weird question, but would you mind if I film here?" he asked, holding up a compact camera. "I'd like to show my friends how delicious it all looks! Um. On the internet and stuff?" His friends, Kyuhyun thought. All six hundred thousand plus of them.

"Sure! No problem," Kyuhyun assured him with a smile, even though he'd never felt more supremely awkward in his entire life and he was sure a camera wasn't going to help. But Zhou Mi had looked shy, biting his bottom lip while explaining and Kyuhyun was Weak.

"Awesome!" Zhou Mi gushed. "Can you tell me what everything is?" And Kyuhyun regretted nothing.

The thing was, Zhou Mi was easy to talk to. He was delightfully excited at all the pastries and interested in whatever Kyuhyun had to say and before he knew it all awkwardness was forgotten and he was chatting away happily and having to remind himself that they hadn't known each other for years and to keep his weird in check because it would be all over the internet.

"Try one of these," Kyuhyun offered, setting the tray of green tea and white chocolate macarons on the counter.

"Can I? Are you sure?"

The dark chocolate cookies were next and then the strawberry cupcakes and a sliver of mango cake and Zhou Mi's eyes shone as he told Kyuhyun in a mix of Korean and Chinese how delicious everything was and Kyuhyun thought that if he would get paid in Zhou Mi Compliments for the rest of his life, then he would be fine with that.

Eventually, a line formed. Zhou Mi almost jumped when he noticed, apologizing profusely for taking up Kyuhyun's time. Kyuhyun shot a dirty look at the door leading to the kitchen. Why on earth did Henry and Chanyeol choose this moment to be suspiciously absent? He rang up Zhou Mi's purchase and got a hurried goodbye before he was out the door.

Kyuhyun served the rest of the customers before he went to check where the hell his staff had disappeared to. He was barely through the door before he was mobbed.

"Oh my god, hyung!" Chanyeol flailed.

"Did you get his number?" Henry asked.

"Did you tell him you watch his videos?" Chanyeol asked.

"That you're basically his number one fan?" Henry added.

"No, no and definitely not. Where the hell were you two?"

"In here having hysterics for you," Henry admitted and Kyuhyun laughed despite himself.

"Useless," he said, shaking his head and he might have been convincing if he hadn't still been smiling.

"Why didn't you tell him?" Henry demanded. Kyuhyun shrugged, coloring with embarrassment.

"I don't know. The moment passed and then there was no non-awkward way to say it."

"You're hopeless. You should have just told him you love him forever," Henry said, shaking his head sadly.

"This is why I never listen to you."

 

Most Delicious Day. The vlog was titled Most Delicious Day and the display picture was Kyuhyun's layered mango cake.

 

 

 

It had been two days and Kyuhyun still hadn't worked up the courage to watch the damn thing.

 

 

> **henrylau89** He should've titled it Kyuhyun the Lovesick Puppy (18:34)  
>  **bakinggyu** i hate you (19:27)  
>  **henrylau89** Aww man, don't sweat it! He looked just as in love tbh (19:50)  
>  **henrylau89** Though 50/50 it was at you or the sweets (19:50)

 

> **PCY** We're all supporting you, hyung! :D :D (18:56)  
>  **bakinggyu** oh my god (19:28)

 

"You're back!"

"Of course! You won't be able to keep me away now that I've discovered this place," Zhou Mi said.

"No camera this time?" Kyuhyun asked. Zhou Mi ducked his head in embarrassment but then laughed.

"No camera. Sorry about being a bother last time."

"Not at all!" Kyuhyun assured him, maybe slightly louder than necessary but the last thing he wants is for Zhou Mi to think he's a bother.

"What did your friends think?" Kyuhyun asked as nonchalantly as possible, pretending he couldn't feel his cheeks heating up already.

"They were all so jealous!" Zhou Mi told him cheerfully. "They all wanted to come here and eat everything, basically. Thank you very much for letting me try thing last time, by the way! I hope you didn't get in trouble with your boss?" Kyuhyun laughed at that but Zhou Mi looked genuinely concerned.

"It's perfectly fine," Kyuhyun assured him. The upside of being his own boss, apparently, was deciding when making someone happy with his food was payment enough.

"Oh, good. I worried about that afterwards. I left in a bit of hurry and all." He took another look at the display before continuing. "It's still hard to decide between everything." He laughed. "The downside to everything looking delicious. Oh! My friend who told me about this place, she recommended the breakfast muffins?"

Kyuhyun nodded and went to grab them.

"Here you go."

"They look less cute than other things," Zhou Mi concluded, sounding slightly disappointed.

"That's because these are healthier."

Zhou Mi pouted.

"Can't it be cute and healthy?"

You? I'd quite like to lick you, Kyuhyun's mind supplied.

"So demanding," he said out loud, tsk-ing, although he couldn't help but smile. "They're really delicious, though."

"I trust your judgment! Two of those, please. And I'd like something cute as well. What do you recommend?" he asked, leaning his elbows on the counter and making big eyes at Kyuhyun.

 

> **bakinggyu** i think i might be a tiny bit in love? (14:32)  
>  **bakinggyu** :/ (14:32)  
>  **bakinggyu** he looked at me today with this FACE and my heart started beating faster (14:32)  
>  **ryeong9** oh kyukyu (15:07)  
>  **ryeong9** everyone already knew (15:07)  
>  **ryeong9** <3 (15:07)

 

**#278 So Much Cute!**

"Good morning everyone!" Zhou Mi waved at the camera. "It's," he glanced to his phone to check the time, "almost afternoon but I'm vlogging breakfast today so it still totally counts! It's Zhou Mi. Welcome to another vlog! So the reason I didn't vlog this morning is I went back to that little bakery I visited a while ago. If you havent seen it I'll link the video somewhere here," he added, waving to the left of the screen.

"Everything they had was so good! The best pastries I've ever had! I really recommend it to everyone, I'll leave the address in the description box so you can visit! It's called the Cake House. Anyway, I was in the way a bit when I filmed there last time," he continued, pulling a face. "Although the cute shop attendant told me today that I hadn't been! That was really sweet. But I felt bad about filming there again so I brought some home with me to show you. These are their breakfast muffins," he said, holding one up.

"My friend Fei recommended them. They're not very pretty to look at, are they? Cute Shop Attendant scolded me for saying that, because they're really healthy," he continued, laughing. "But I can't help it if everything else they have is so cute!"

He took a big bite out of the muffin after showing it to the camera.

"Oh! This is so good!" he exclaimed, spraying crumbs. "Oops. Um. That was less than elegant. Wow, I don't even know why I'm still surprised? But this is delicious! It's... let me see, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds and several kinds of nuts, I think, and there's cranberries and Cute Shop Attendant told me there was apple as well!" He paused for a moment to move the camera.

"So, guys, let me tell you about the Cute Shop Attendant because I've already assigned capital letters to him. I mean, don't get me wrong, the Cake House is my new favorite because their stuff is delicious and I want to meet their pastry chef and weep at his feet just being in the presence of an artist. I heard - ah, Fei told me, I should say! - that he's from abroad. Europe or America I think? I'm not really sure. I'm glad he decided to come to Seoul, same as me!

"So anyway, there's that! But the adorable shop attendant sort of... completes the perfect experience. He was so helpful and really sweet! He told me about all the things they had and let me taste some things - I hope he didn't get in trouble for that. When I came there again today I just wanted to give him a hug? He looks really cuddly. Like... soft hair and warm eyes and such, I don't know? Do I sound like a creeper right now? I didn't mean for that to happen he was just really sweet! If you guys are in Seoul and visit the Cake Shop don't tell him about the creeper on the internet, please. Just ask him about the pastries! We mostly spoke in Korean but he also explained some things to me in Chinese so don't hesitate!" Zhou Mi stopped to wipe the crumbs from his fingers and rummaged in the paper bag.

"When I complained about the muffins not being cute enough, he recommended I try this too," he said, delicately lifting the cupcake from the bag. It was overwhelmingly pink.

"It's the cherry blossom special cupcake. I think he was maybe teasing me picking this out? But that's okay because it looks awesome anyway!"

 

> **bakinggyu** somewhere something has gone terribly wrong (21:05)  
>  **henrylau89** I JUST FINISHED WATCHING (21:15)  
>  **henrylau89** I AM LAUGHING SO HARD I AM WHEEZING (21:15)  
>  **henrylau89** I ACTUALLY CANNOT BREATHE (21:15)  
>  **bakinggyu** I want to tell you I'm firing you but what would we do without the genius pastry chef from abroad? (21:16)  
>  **henrylau89** LITERALLY ROLLING ON THE FLOOR (21:16)  
>  **henrylau89** CUTE SHOP ATTENDANT (21:17)  
>  **bakinggyu** :/ (21:17)  
>  **henrylau89** I DON'T EVEN CARE I WILL CALL YOU CUTE SHOP ATTENDANT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE (21:18)  
>  **bakinggyu** youre so very fired (21:18)  
>  **henrylau89** YOU'RE TOO CUDDLY TO FIRE ANYONE (21:19)

 

> **Siwon407** Kyu, I'm so proud of you! :) :) (21:31)  
>  **bakinggyu** ?? (21:34)  
>  **Siwon407** I thought you might have seen this already! (21:36)  
>  **Siwon407** http://youtu.be/e_Nz8t3vNo8 (21:37)  
>  **Siwon407** He recommended your Chinese! :) :) Way to go! (21:38)  
>  **bakinggyu** really? (21:40)  
>  **bakinggyu** thats what you took away from that? (21:40)

 

> **henrylau89** No but seriously (23:40)  
>  **henrylau89** You're not actually upset are you? (23:40)  
>  **henrylau89** Next time he comes to the bakery you explain the thing to him (23:41)  
>  **henrylau89** And when he finds out the two people he's crushing on are in fact one and the same (23:41)  
>  **henrylau89** He'll probably come in his pants then and there (23:42)  
>  **bakinggyu** youre terrible (23:43)  
>  **henrylau89** ilu2 (23:44)

 

> **PCY** You do look pretty cuddly, hyung :D (23:42)  
>  **bakinggyu** oh my god (23:44)  
>  **bakinggyu** wait you speak chinese? (23:50)  
>  **PCY** No I'm watching with a friend :D (23:52)  
>  **bakinggyu** oh my god (23:52)

 

"Good morning!"

"Zhou Mi! Hi! It's been a while," Kyuhyun greeted with a smile.

"Far too long," Zhou Mi agreed mournfully. "Work's been so busy."

"Yeah, we've been busy too. There's been a surprising increase in Chinese customers. You must have a lot of friends," Kyuhyun replied, smiling slyly. Zhou Mi looked shifty.

"Um yes I have quite a large social circle?"

"I've been getting to practice my Chinese a lot."

"That's good," Zhou Mi said smiling.hesitantly.

"It's quite interesting vocabulary I'm picking up."

"I imagine so," Zhou Mi replied seriously. "Flavors and um... baking terms and such."

"'Cuddly'," Kyuhyun offered.

"Oh no," Zhou Mi moaned, slumping against the counter. "They told you. Why did they tell you? I thought I was safe. Friends should keep secrets."

Kyuhyun laughed.

"What about publically posting something on the internet made you think you were safe?"

"I should've known better," Zhou Mi admitted sadly. "I've become way too used to talking about personal stuff on there, I guess. Are you mad?" he added tentatively.

"That you told half a million people that you desperately want to hug me?" Kyuhyun grinned. "Not really."

"I'm really sorry," Zhou Mi said.

"It's fine, really. It was amusing? And really embarrassing but..."

"But what?"

"I don't know. You look like you give good hugs," Kyuhyun blurted out. Zhou Mi blinked. Then he was behind the counter in two steps to demonstrate. Perfect hugs, Kyuhyun amended, although they had to jump apart way too soon at the tinkle of the shop bell.

"Do you maybe want to go somewhere later?" Zhou Mi asked, red faced. "Dinner?"

"Definitely," Kyuhyun answered, smiling so widely his face was starting to hurt. He leaned forward, just before Zhou Mi turned to leave and while the next customer was distracted by the display, and placed a quick small kiss on Zhou Mi's mouth. More than hugs, he'd been thinking about how kissable Zhou Mi's lips looked for a long time now. Zhou Mi's eyes widened.

"You can't do that and then expect me to leave," he whispered.

"See you tonight," Kyuhyun answered with a wink before turning to deal with the customer, who was increasingly awkwardly pretending they couldn't see what was going on.

 

"You watch the shop," Kyuhyun told Chanyeol as he entered the kitchen. Chanyeol frowned at the clock.

"I thought it wasn't my turn for another hour? I'm still making the cream for the profiteroles."

Kyuhyun waved him away. "I'll do it. I just need to take care of something."

Chanyeol shrugged. "Sure, hyung."

"What are you up to?" Henry asked suspiciously from the other end of the kitchen.

"Absolutely none of your business at all."

"Ah," Henry grinned. "That sounds like fun."

 

"I brought dessert," Kyuhyun said when Zhou Mi picked him up, holding up the little cardboard box.

"Oh good. You realize you sent me away empty handed earlier?" Zhou Mi teased, nudging his shoulder.

"Sure, I did it on purpose so you'd have room for dessert."

"It was nine in the morning! So mean," he added when Kyuhyun laughed.

"You could have come back."

"I did actually think about it, though admittedly more for kisses than for cake."

"You can have both now," Kyuhyun promised. "That customer this morning, I've never had quite such an awkward experience in the shop before."

"Sorry not sorry."

"I figured. Where are we going by the way?"

"I know a really nice place maybe a five minute walk from here? It's a fish restaurant, if that's okay?"

Kyuhyun nodded. He thought he knew the place Zhou Mi was talking about from one of his vlogs which was... weird and he wasn't quite ready to admit to that yet. "Sounds good."

 

"Are these Valentine's cupcakes?" Zhou Mi asked. They were back at Zhou Mi's apartment after a dinner that took them hours. They had been talking too much to actually eat. They'd settled on Zhou Mi's couch together.

"It's _August_."

"They look very Valentiney."

"Romantic you mean?"

"Valentiney," Zhou Mi maintained. Kyuhyun knocked their shoulders together.

"Shut up I went through all this trouble of making them for you."

Zhou Mi half turned to look at him. "You made them yourself?"

"No need to look that shocked, I do work at a bakery."

"Yes, but," he paused. "I'm just shocked to meet someone even cheesier than I am," he finished cheerfully.

"What? I could never aspire to your level of cheese."

"You made me Valentine's cupcakes in August."

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. "Just try them, chatterbox."

"Okay, okay... You know I was kidding, right? They look delicious."

"Of course, you weirdo," Kyuhyun replied easily, leaning into Zhou Mi's side.

"Oh!" Zhou Mi exclaimed after his first bite. "Kyuhyun! These are delicious!"

Kyuhyun laughed.

"So very shocked? You just told me they looked it."

"They do! But Kyuhyun! You made these?"

Kyuhyun felt pretty smug.

"I just wanted to take this opportunity to get back to your dumb video."

"What?" Zhou Mi frowned in confusion, licking the last chocolate of the cupcake from his fingers.

"What was it again? Weeping at my feet? Basking in the presence of an artist?"

"Kyuhyun..." Zhou Mi looked at him with eyes like saucers.

Kyuhyun stretched his legs and wiggled his feet. "Weep away."

 

Zhou Mi was back at the Cake House a few days later and found Kyuhyun in the kitchen behind the shop.

"Hey! If it isn't the Cute Shop Attendant's boyfriend!"

Zhou Mi winced and turned to the kitchen's other occupant after giving Kyuhyun a quick kiss.

"I'm sorry, that was a misunderstanding. I just assumed..."

Henry waved this away.

"Don't be silly. I've been having the best time with this! Anyway, it's nice to finally meet you! Kyuhyun has been talking about your videos for _months_ now."

Kyuhyun froze. Well, shit. So much for keeping that on the down low.

Zhou Mi gaped.

"Kyuhyun! You never told me!" he protested. Kyuhyun squirmed. Outright denial probably wouldn't work at this point, Henry was looking way too gleeful.

"I could never figure out how to tell you without sounding like a total creeper? Also, Henry, you're more fired than you've ever been before."

"I think it's really awesome? It's so sweet! I don't think you're creepy for being interested in me, or I wouldn't have started Youtube. I'm really proud you were, actually," Zhou Mi said earnestly.

"The level of fanboy crush, though," Henry interjected helpfully. "Remind me to show you the chats sometime."

"So incredibly fired," Kyuhyun groaned and Zhou Mi laughed.

"Oh well, put it like that, 'I totally creeped on you too' would have fit neatly behind 'I found out you creeped on me'," he joked.

"Well, when you put it like that," Kyuhyun conceded, resting his forehead on Zhou Mi's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Mi. I was going to tell you. Not like this, although probably in an equally dumb way like being weirdly knowledgable about your life," he mumbled. Zhou Mi snorted and patted his hair.

"Oh well, then we can be creepers together. I do expect you in full gushing flaily mode this evening though. I want to hear all the details of your fanboy crush."

"Do you want me to die from embarrassment?" Kyuhyun groaned.

"It's a risk I'm totally willing to take."

"So mean. You were nicer on screen," he complained.

"Such a baby," Zhou Mi countered teasingly. "I couldn't kiss you to make it up to you from your computer screen, though."

"True, I'm starting to see the advantages here," Kyuhyun murmured standing on tiptoe so he could lean into Zhou Mi to claim a kiss right then.

"I'm just... going to be over there somewhere," Henry interrupted. Kyuhyun waved him away absent mindedly.

"You go mind the shop for a while."

"Still not fired then?" he asked, but Kyuhyun was already too busy to reply.

 

**# 284 Cute Shop Attendant**

"Good morning, guys! It's still early but I feel so energized today! I wanted to tell you guys about something big that's been happening in my life. First, let me introduce you..."

"Zhou Mi! This bed is strictly a no vlogging zone!"


End file.
